Lu Bu, the Thunder General, is my adoptive father in Genshin Impact.

"That's exactly what I mean," Ying said calmly and without expression.

……

A beam of light pierced the night sky, tearing through the thick fog, and landed in Xiao Yi's hand. Before the assassins on his body could self-destruct, intense lightning instantly turned them into ashes.

The bald man in the black robe raised his arms to cover his eyes while backing away, until he tripped over a tree root and fell backward.

Xiao Yi's companions looked at the soaring light as if they were witnessing a rare natural phenomenon. The three of them, all masked, looked at each other in bewilderment, confirming that they were not mistaken.

As the light faded, the tall figure slowly rose to his feet, holding a dazzling long-handled weapon in his hand.

Chapter 124 The Arrow of the Adopted Son, a Mighty Force

Xiao Yi's pendant is both his lifeline for maintaining his life and existence, and his passport to unleashing his power.

This creation, combining the profound knowledge of Thor and the fox, will silently function as long as it exists in the same world as Xiao Yi, until one of them completely perishes.

Therefore, the pendant cannot be separated by any magic. Even using the secret techniques of the Liyue Immortals, it cannot be imprisoned unless a figure of the Seven Gods level personally seals it, since it is a creation combining the secret techniques and power of the Thunder General.

So when the pendant was taken by Liyue, Xiao Yi was not flustered at all. This was also the source of his confidence in telling Thor that he could solve the problem. He wanted to pretend to lose his power and play dumb to lure out the guy hiding behind the scenes.

Now, the fish has taken the bait.

Although I don't know who the bald man in the black robe is, the fact that he can control hundreds of elemental puppets indicates that he holds a high position in the organization. Moreover, the number 100 is displayed in colorful colors on his bald head.

All our efforts so far have been in vain, but the biggest clue has finally emerged.

Xiao Yi's eyes flashed with lightning, and the electric current broke through the air and spread outwards, making his electric eyes pierce the air.

The halberd in his hand illuminated the forest, dispelling the surrounding mist, and all the assassins hiding in the shadows were forced to reveal themselves.

"There are over 600 of them in total. Coupled with their troublesome abilities, if they were used to attack Liyue Harbor, it would probably cause quite a disaster." Xiao Yi brandished his halberd as if twirling a spear. "Then, I'll do Liyue a big favor and help you take care of them!"

The bald man in the black robe was still involuntarily retreating. Despite this, it was unclear whether he was feigning composure or hiding a trump card. His expression gradually returned to normal after the initial panic.

“If I’m not mistaken, you are the legendary Naruto no Shinobu. I’m truly sorry for offending you just now.” The bald man suddenly became respectful and polite. “The conflict just now was merely a misunderstanding. Our organization’s member, Zhang San, has gone missing in the vicinity, and I’ve come here specifically to look for him.”

"Searching for people?" Xiao Yi gripped his surging energy weapon. "You mean, indiscriminately, let these monsters kill all the living people?"

“Because Zhang San received the blessing of ‘that person,’ yet died unjustly here, it means that the person who killed him was no ordinary person. We thought it was a rebellious person who opposed the person, but we didn’t expect it to be a guest from Inazuma.” The bald man regained his composure and invited, “Lord Narukami, I extend a sincere invitation to you. If you are interested, please come with me to see that person—our great path to filling the world with justice needs someone like you.”

Justice? Forget about this kind of customized, flexible justice! Xiao Yi thought to himself.

He extended his free hand, which was not holding the halberd, and pointed to Gan Yu behind him: "Sorry, I've already been reserved. I'm practically half of Liyue. I don't care what organization you are or what ideals that 'Great Righteous Lord' has. Anyone who opposes Liyue is my enemy."

The bald man in black robes shook his head, as if feeling sorry for Xiao Yi: "What a pity. I thought that as the adopted son of a god, you would be able to understand that great man's lofty ideals. But it seems that you are no different from those petty villains... Then you should die like trash—kill it!"

The remaining assassins received orders, and most of them rushed towards Xiao Yi in unison, while the rest continued to crouch on the tree branches, throwing shurikens and other projectiles to harass him.

Despite the swift attack, Xiao Yi remained unmoved as several short blades and wakizashi pierced through his lightning-streaked body.

He thought to himself: Half a minute has passed, and there are still 2 minutes and 30 seconds left. It will only take 10 seconds to deal with all the puppets. Although the bald man looks very confident, he will only need 30 seconds to subdue him at most. In short, there is plenty of time.

Rumble!!!

The halberd drew a dazzling arc, severing dozens of assassins who attacked Xiao Yi in two. The thunder that followed turned them into something even finer than dust.

If their energy wasn't consumed through elemental reactions, these monsters would have exploded. However, Liyue has a long-standing tradition of overwhelming force, and the near-divine lightning element directly consumed both their bodies and energy.

The aftershocks spread along the ground in the direction where no one was with him, neatly destroying more than a dozen assassins who had not gotten close to Xiao Yi. Because the power of the aftershocks was not as high as the slash, the energy inside the assassins' bodies was detonated, producing a dazzling explosion of colors.

Seconds later, due to Xiao Yi's attack and the explosions by the assassins, a large number of trees were burned and felled at the edge of the forest, and the fertile soil was turned into scorched earth.

Some of the assassins on the trees were caught in the attack, and the densely packed enemy force was instantly reduced by more than half.

Having long since retreated to the crowd watching from a distance, D'Artagnan rubbed his temples: "Thank goodness, he didn't unleash this power when he was fighting me."

Ying retorted, "Don't you love fighting?"

“But I don’t love dying,” the young master replied.

Ying looked at the scorched earth and blinked: "Although I've seen it many times with Ying, no matter how many times I see it, the majesty of the gods will always be awe-inspiring."

Gan Yu stared at Xiao Yi's tall and imposing figure. She recalled the heroic figure of the Emperor leading the immortals to fight against demons during the War of the Gods and Demons. After being a corporate slave for thousands of years, she couldn't help but shed tears.

About five seconds later, only about 60 of the hundreds of assassins remained. Xiao Yi's energy output and precision far exceeded the black-robed bald man's expectations, and he began to get a little anxious.

"Merge, merge!" the bald man commanded strangely. "Quickly take care of him!"

The remaining assassins immediately gathered together, their bodies seemingly melting into a black, gelatinous substance containing various colored elements. The gelatinous substance then devoured and merged with each other, eventually transforming into a humanoid behemoth over twenty meters tall.

The massive monster was covered in eyes, which shone with four colors: crimson, light blue, dark blue, and purple, and were constantly spinning rapidly in their sockets.

In the end, all eyes locked onto Xiao Yi.

The monster walked towards Xiao Yi step by step, and it seemed that even the mountain trembled with its steps. Faced with such a strong sense of oppression, Xiao Yi turned around unhurriedly.

"Miss Gan Yu, may I borrow your new bow?"

Despite some doubt, Gan Yu threw out his weapon without hesitation. The longbow spun in mid-air and flew into Xiao Yi's hand. He smiled and turned back to look at the enemy.

"You're not scared, are you, Lord Narukami?" The bald man hiding outside the danger zone chuckled, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "You abandoned melee combat and switched to ranged attacks after discovering the opponent's massive size. It seems the legend of slaying Orochi has some flaws!"

"I just find it dirty." Xiao Yi gripped the bow arm and mocked, "Besides, your command skills are so bad that I want to laugh. If I let the scattered assassins attack my teammates, considering the issue of friendly fire, I might be a few seconds slower in wiping them out..."

"However, when faced with an enemy with high burst damage and high output, gathering your remaining subordinates is just asking to be wiped out in one fell swoop, isn't it?"

Xiao Yi channeled lightning into his longbow, and dazzling flashes of electricity erupted. Then, he surprisingly raised his halberd as an arrow, nocked it on the bow, drew it to its full extent, and aimed it at the enemy.

"Miss Gan Yu, thank you for teaching me archery."

"Wow!" the blue-haired Qilin girl exclaimed in surprise.

boom--

A sound more deafening than thunder swept through the forest, and the entire Tianheng Mountain seemed to tremble as a result. The unrestrained halberd, carrying the potential energy of the bowstring, shot towards the chest of the giant monster with the force of thunder. Immediately afterwards, intense lightning dispelled the fog in the forest.

This arrow pierced the stars!

As the light faded, the obstructive, towering monster vanished, and the surrounding trees were blown down by the wind, but the entire forest looked much cleaner.

Xiao Yi silently counted in his mind: It took a total of 50 seconds.

The companions who had been knocked down by the wind pressure managed to get up and saw Xiao Yi slowly walking towards the bald man who had also been knocked down by the wind pressure. Every step he took flashed with dazzling electric light, as if the concept of the light of day was always with him.

The halberd, which had been shot out like an arrow, fell to the ground. Xiao Yi caught it with his hand and continued to walk step by step toward the rising enemy.

Xiao Yi approached the bald man, who, although slightly startled, remained relatively calm overall.

The halberd, condensed with purple light, thrust towards the enemy. Xiao Yi originally intended to stop his weapon in front of the enemy's chest to achieve a deterrent effect, but unexpectedly, the enemy directly crashed into the tip of the halberd, committing suicide like Zhang San.

However, the bald man did not expect that Xiao Yi had been careful this time. He had reduced the energy he was injecting into the halberd, so that the lightning element would at most cause pain but not death.

Even if something happens, such as cardiac arrest due to being electrocuted, you can use your older brother's wind to disperse the lightning element first, and then use the jellyfish in the Heart Sea to heal the opponent.

The result was beyond Xiao Yi's expectations.

The halberd pierced the bald man's chest, and lightning elements spread and burned his entire body, but the bald man looked at Xiao Yi without any pain, as if he were mocking him with a smile.

Sensing something was wrong, Xiao Yi kicked the bald man in the stomach. The enemy flew out like a rag, crashing into three thick trees, but stood up again as if nothing had happened.

Xiao Yi frowned slightly. He increased his lightning output before kicking the enemy away, and the power of that kick was definitely not bad, as evidenced by the three large trees that felled.

However, the scene before them showed that the bald man seemed to be completely unharmed, which was very strange.

"Hahahaha, as expected, even Narutoshi isn't all that great!" The bald man in the long robe spread his hands and explained, "I received a blessing from that lord, not just Zhang San's rudimentary power, but a true blessing..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Yi's halberd had already been thrown at his face, and the resulting explosion was like hundreds or thousands of lightning elemental spirits piling up together and exploding simultaneously.

The lightning and smoke dissipated, and the long-robed, bald man stood unharmed in the pit.

Xiao Yi was greatly surprised: Could it be a projection or an illusion? No, that kick just now was very solid!

The bald man continued cheerfully,

"The blessing from that lord is to grant me an invincible body, and that I can never be killed unless the rules are met."

"However, in Liyue today, and in all the countries today, it is difficult to enforce this rule—to hold an ancient ritual with a history of at least a thousand years, and a ritual about 'death,' and I am the sacrifice that must die in the ritual so that the person performing the ritual can harm me."

"As long as I am in Liyue, this rule will remain in effect. In addition, all attacks launched against me will be absorbed by the land of Liyue."

"However, such barbaric sacrificial rituals are no longer preserved in Liyue society today. Whether in Liyue or other countries, related records have been lost to the annals of history. Therefore, no one from any country can harm me, not even you, Narukami!"

"At first I was a little worried, maybe you could break the rules set by that great one. But it turns out that only a true god, a god with thousands of years of history, can harm me. You're still too young! Hahahaha..."

Xiao Yi looked at the arrogant, heartily laughing bald man with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot.

Either they kill you with an ancient ritual about "death," or they let the gods kill you? Then things become simple.

(Xiao Yi: Miss Ying, can you see the light on the other side of Tianheng Mountain?)

(Shadow: Yuheng and the immortals all saw it. Qixing will probably send someone to investigate. I saw it more clearly through your eyes. That guy seems very arrogant.)

(Xiao Yi: You also think he's arrogant? Go ahead and strike him with lightning! Just cripple him.)

(Shadow: It's not possible right now.)

(Xiao Yi: ???)

(Shadow: I'm maintaining the fog dissipation in Liyue Harbor. I just saw several large ships entering the harbor in the distance. To launch a long-range attack, I need to dispel the fog dissipation. If the fog reappears, it will cause ship collisions, resulting in many deaths.)

(Shadow: Besides, if I were to unleash my power now, I'm afraid it would alert the Seven Stars and the Immortal.)

Xiao Yi stared helplessly at the bald man. Since Miss Ying couldn't help, he could only decide whether to continue attacking to try to break through the defense or to take other measures.

rumble!!!

The earth suddenly trembled, and a mist of four elements erupted from beneath the bald man's feet, completely enveloping his body.

"Heh, that lord used his power to take me back. Goodbye, you fools of Inazuma, Liyue, and Winter. You may be able to defeat me, but you will never find a way to kill me! How rude of me, I almost forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Ironclad, I am the immortal protected by the rules!"

The smoke from the four elements quickly dissipated, and the bald man named Tieqi disappeared without a trace.

After observing his surroundings and confirming that there were no enemies, Xiao Yi stopped using the power of the gods, put the amethyst pendant back on his chest, and the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.

He walked over to his companions, shrugged helplessly, and said, "He's a tough opponent. Next time we see him, we'll have to find a way to break his invincible body."

Conventionally, an indestructible body is meant to be broken by humans.

"So what do we do now?" Gan Yu said hesitantly. "Our hiding place has been exposed, and the Thousand Rock Army will come to search it. What should we do next..."

“Back to Liyue Harbor,” Xiao Yi said.

Everyone looked at him with suspicion.

Xiao Yi analyzed, "General Lei Dian has already arrived, so there's no problem going back now. Besides, we can't stay 'wild' forever; we also need official help to exchange the intelligence we've gathered with the Seven Stars."